Our History
Our Peace Officers, Fire Fighters, Emergency Medical Services, 911 Dispatch and Military Personnel face frustrating and devastating situations on the workfront and then find themselves working hard to find a balanced life perspective on the homefront.
- Our Mission: Provide empathetic and confidential support that builds resiliency individually and within our First Responder and Military Families.
- Our Vision: That all First Responder and Military Personnel have user friendly access to resources to build resiliency as an individual and/or as a family.
- Our Values: Family, Empathy, Diversity and Inclusivity, Confidentiality, Collaboration, Integrity
Founded in 1997 by a group of Calgary and Edmonton Police Officers who felt there was a gap between the professional life and the transition to the home front. There was a period within a year of several suicides within policing in Alberta and discovery of situations where First Responders were having difficulties in coming home because of the stresses they were carrying from work.
The sights, sounds and carnage have a way of building up within the human mind that is difficult to shake off. Sleeping in their vehicles and couch surfing at a buddies basement became a disturbing trend. Over the years, the agencies that represent Police, Fire, EMS, 911 Dispach and Military have developed different types of Peer Support resources and instruction to better assist ways of coping to the challenges of the profession.
Legacy Place Society is the CONFIDENTIAL home away from home that supports First Responders and Military Personnel individually or as a family in providing accommodations during times of family crisis within marriages or for medical attention (Counselling, cancer, occupational stress injury, post traumatic stress, surgery, etc).
Since opening the doors in 2001, we have received over 38,000 nightly stays between the 3 locations (Calgary 2001, Edmonton 2004 and Red Deer in 2010). Military Personnel were added in 2010 simply due to lack of available resources for them and because of the cross over of professions once the military career has retired. Our audience consists of currently serving First Responder and Military Personnel and those who are retired veterans of these professions.
Our First Responders are human too. At the end of their shift and it’s time to go home, it’s quite difficult to disengage from the day’s events. Communication, adjusting to family routine and coping behaviors can be challenging within themselves of within the family.
Our programs detail many areas including participation with peer support, education bursaries, scholarships, leaving legacies, benevolence, resiliency workshops, humanitarian mission trips, and family camp to name a few.